William Stevenson, 77, of Elsmere, Delaware, on Monday was charged with first-degree murder of his wife Linda Stevenson, 64, in December

Stevenson failing to to meet the $500,000 cash bail, was committed to the Howard Young Correctional Institution

A ‘domestic dispute’ was reported at the Stevenson family’s home in Wilmington at 11.16pm on December 28, 2025

Linda was found unresponsive on the floor and pronounced dead after life saving measures by officers failed

Cause of death has not been released, although a 911 call audio from the incident mentioned a cardiac arrest

Linda’s obituary stated she died unexpectedly and made no mention of her husband

Stevenson was married to former First Lady Jill Biden, from 1970 to 1975, when their divorce was finalized

William Stevenson, [L-R], 77, was arrested on Monday on suspicion of involvement in the death of his wife Linda Stevenson, 64, at their home in Delaware on December 28

Former First Lady Jill Biden’s ex-husband has been charged with murdering his wife.
William Stevenson, 77, was arrested on Monday over the killing of 64-year-old Linda Stevenson at their home in the Oak Hill neighborhood in Elsmere, Delaware.
Charged with first-degree murder of his wife and, after failing to meet the $500,000 cash bail, Stevenson was committed to the Howard Young Correctional Institution.
Around 11.16pm on December 28, 2025, a ‘domestic dispute’ was reported at the Stevenson family’s home in Elsmere, near Wilmington. On arrival officers from the New Castle County police department found Linda Stevenson unresponsive on the living room floor.
She was pronounced dead at the scene after life-saving measures applied by officers failed to revive her.
Cause of death has not been released, although a 911 call audio from the incident mentioned ‘cardiac arrest’.
Linda’s obituary states that she died unexpectedly and makes no mention of her husband.

William Stevenson [right], was charged on Monday, February 2, with the first-degree murder of his wife Linda Stevenson [left] who died in December 2025

Stevenson when his marriage to Jill ended married Linda Bernice. The couple shared one daughter Christina Vettori.
As a 23-year-old businessman in 1970, William ‘Bill’ Stevenson married Jill Tracy Jacobs, an 18-year-old college student at the University of Delaware. The young couple separated in 1974.
The pair divorced in 1975 and two years later Jill married then New Castle County Councilman Joseph Biden, the future president.
Stevenson later claimed that Jill had cheated on him and that he kicked her out of the house when he learned of the affair with Biden.

William once was married to former First Lady, Jill Biden [right]. As an 18-year-old college student Jill Jacob married William Stevenson, 23, in 1970. They separated in 1974. With her divorce finalized in 1975, she then married widower Joseph Biden, [left], in 1977

During Joe Biden’s run for president in 2020, Stevenson alleged that Jill cheated on him with the future president in August 1974 – the same year they separated.
He detailed how the two were working on then-New Castle County Councilman Joe Biden’s campaign together when he started to suspect the affair.
‘One of her best friends told me she thought Joe and Jill were getting a little too close. I was surprised that she came to me,’ Stevenson said in an interview.

William Stevenson [right], and Jill Jacobs [left], (circa the 1970s) wedded in 1970, when Jill was still in college. The young couple separated in 1974, finally divorced in 1975

Stevenson said his suspicions were confirmed after a man told him Joe had been driving his wife’s car when they were involved in an accident together.
‘I asked Jill to leave the house, which she did,’ he said. ‘Her father was begging me to take her back when he found out what was going on. He asked me to give her a second chance, but I wasn’t interested.’
Jill Biden since repudiated those allegations. Her representatives told Inside Edition in 2020 that claims of an affair were ‘fictitious’, designed to ‘sell and promote a book’ which Stevenson was set to launch.
‘The relationship of Joe and Jill Biden is well documented,’ the spokesman said.
‘Jill Biden separated from her first husband irreconcilably in the fall of 1974 and moved out of their marital home. Joe and Jill Biden had their first date in March of 1975, and they married in June of 1977.’

Her obituary described Linda Stevenson as a ‘deeply family-oriented’ mother and grandmother. Until her death she ran BMB, the bookkeeping firm she founded

William and Linda Stevenson with their daughter Christina Vettori [left]

In her 2019 memoir, When the Light Enters: Building a Family, Discovering Myself, Jill admitted she first thought she and Stevenson were ‘destined for each other.’
‘Looking back, it may seem like a mistake of youth,’ she scathingly wrote about the man she indirectly referred to as ‘charming and entrepreneurial’ in the book.